A Beautiful Lie
by Landiana
Summary: Bella moves back to Forks and discovers a very different place to the town whe grew up in. Full of intrigue, lies and secrets, no one person really knows the whole story. But its all about to change.... AH. rated M for language and some content
1. Chapter 1: The Age of the Understatement

**So totally new story! its really different to what i usually write - a bit more convoluted and with more intruige! I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: i do not own Twilight. If i did i wouldn't be working as a swimming teacher.**

Chapter one: The Age Of The Understatement

I walked through the door and the first thing I noticed was the giant banner tapped across the living room door which was facing me. The words **WELCOME HOME BELLA **were emblazoned in bright neon letters on a white background. The sign took up nearly the whole door. I looked next to it and saw my two parents grinning at my shocked face.

"Hi baby!" my mother shouted as she ran across to me. She took my suitcase and grabbed hold of me, almost choking me.

"Hi mom!" I spluttered as I put my arms awkwardly around her. "Mom, I can't breathe!"

"Renee, give the girl some space," my dad joked as he gently pulled my mom off me. "You act like you haven't seen Bella in decades!"

"Well it has been a long time. I am so glad that you are finally home, baby girl. Do you like the banner?" she asked me enthusiastically as she wrapped one arm around me and pulled me into the living room. My mother was like that a lot. She was child like in many ways, with her insatiable enthusiasm and innocent curiosity. It surprised me, now that I was back home, how much I had really missed my mom. See, for the last two years I had been going to a private boarding school in Phoenix, Arizona, called East Grean Academy. I'd only been home to Forks for two weeks each summer and at Christmas, because of all of the extracurricular stuff I had to do to keep my place at the academy.

"Yeah mom, it's great. I'm so glad that I am home," I said as I looked at the living room. My mother had gone completely and utterly decoration crazy. The room was full of balloons, streamers and more banners, proclaiming the same sentiment as the one which had greeted me at the door. Wow, my parents really were happy to see me back home. "Wow, the decorations are amazing!"

"Thank you sweetie! Although I can't really claim all of the gratitude, because a girl who lives next door came over to help me. She is such a lovely girl, Alice Brandon. She will be coming over later," my mother babbled as she pulled me up the stairs to my bedroom. I had had most of my stuff shipped back home from the Academy, so I only had one small suitcase to bring with me.

I was shocked when mom opened my door and I was greeted by something so unfamiliar. Mom had got me a new bed, a double one which was in the middle of the room. There was a new bookcase, wardrobe and dresser, as well as a new desk which had a shiny new laptop.

"Mom, Dad, you really didn't have to get me a laptop!" I said with gratitude as I looked at the top of the beautiful machine. I walked over to it and slid my hand across the surface lightly. It reminded me of the laptop I had when I was at East Grean. I had had to give it back to the school when I left, putting all of my files on a portable hard drive.

"We wanted to sweetheart. We are just so happy that you decided to come back home!" Renee gushed enthusiastically. I smiled at her briefly, before looking around the room. The whole place was full of my boxes. My father must have realised what I was looking at, because he chuckled.

"We decided that we should leave you to unpack your boxes yourself," Charlie explained as he took hold of Renee's shoulders and steered her out of the room. They left me in my room by myself, to unpack and get used to being home again. My parents were so transparent sometimes. I sighed and knelt down beside one of my boxes. I opened it up and pulled out the picture which was on top. I immediately replaced it and shoved the whole box into the back of my closet. Then I opened another box, grateful to see that it was one of the boxes of many books I owned. Figuring that my books were as good a place to start as any in my endeavour to organise my room I emptied the box. I began to put the books on the shelves, in alphabetical order by author's surname. I had always been slightly OCD about where my books went, but I had become even more compulsive about it since I started East Grean.

Surrounded by my books I was happy. I must have spent a good few hours organising them, because when I was finished and looked at the clock I saw that it was five o'clock. I sighed and turned to my suitcase and other bags of clothes. I would need to unpack them next if I wanted to have something to wear the next day.

"Hi!" a bubbly and enthusiastic voice said from behind me. I turned and saw a short girl standing in my doorway. She had dark black spiky hair which stood out from her head and flawless pale skin. Her lips were glossy with red lip stick and her eyes were carefully circled with black eyeliner. The full effect was absolutely stunning. My mouth dropped open a little bit as I took her appearance in. She was a truly beautiful girl, who made me look positively drab. She danced into the room and sat down beside me. "I'm Alice Brandon – I live next door. Your mom said you were up here unpacking so I thought that maybe you'd like some help, because I am totally awesome at organising stuff, I mean I did all of the decorating in an hour and believe me that is no small task and so I thought that maybe I could help you with your clothes because I love clothes!" she said all of that in one breath, and there was immediately something about her which made me think that she could be a really good friend. And she lived next door, which meant there would always be someone near to talk to.

"Hi Alice," I said as I looked at her beaming face. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Bella."

"I know who you are silly," she giggled as she pulled me into a tight hug. "Your mom has been going on about it for weeks that you were coming back. I have a feeling we are going to be great friends, I already know so much about you!"

I felt a grim sense of foreboding at that sentence. What exactly had my mother told this girl? I smiled and shook my head slightly, to get rid of the paranoid thoughts. It wasn't as if my mom could have told her my innermost thoughts and emotions, and Alice seemed like she would be a good friend. I needed a good friend, because I hadn't really had a close female friend since my best friend Anna got killed in a car accident when I was fourteen. It was that which had convinced me to move to East Grean, to get over the ghosts from my past. Alice took hold of the nearest suitcase and unzipped it. When she opened it she gasped.

"Oh my god, your clothes are gorgeous!" she squealed as she pulled out a see through dress bag out. She unzipped it and pulled out the floor length strappy purple gown. It was a deep purple, with, thick shoulder straps, and beading underneath the bust. It fell to the floor in a waterfall of light silk. At the back the two shoulder straps crossed over, leaving a large amount of the back uncovered. "What did you get this for?"

"It was my prom dress last year," I said reluctantly. Was she going to ask me the story behind each dress?

"You got to go to prom as a sophomore?" she asked me as she slowly put the dress back into its bag and hung it up in the closet. She took a cursory glance at the box which had been shoved into the back corner, but did not say anything.

"I was invited by a Junior, so I could go to prom, and I had to get a dress." She nodded and we sat side by side and began sorting the clothes into piles of tops, trousers, knitwear, underwear and dresses.

"Was Prom good?" Alice asked after a few minutes of quiet sorting. "I mean my boyfriend was a junior, but I was ill when prom was on last year."

"I had a lot of fun, but the party afterwards was not all that it's cracked up to be. Lots of drunk guys trying to hook up with you, even if you have a date." I said dryly as I pulled a wrinkled dress out of the almost empty suitcase and tried to smooth it out. It refused to comply with my wishes, and i threw it onto the pile in disgust.

"How did you get all of these awesome clothes? Most of the people in Forks wouldn't be able to afford Christian Louboutin Zoupi heels," she said as she held up a pair of high heels which had been in the front of the case.

"My mom used to be a model when she was a teenager, and she did really well out of it. When she had me she stopped doing magazines and just did catalogue work for high end designers. She now does photography and a lot of designers send her free stuff. I'm the same size as her, so I get most of the stuff. Mom thinks that it's not appropriate for a woman who has a seventeen year old daughter to be falling about the place in skyscraper heels. And I worked a lot when I was away, teaching swimming, and eared money which I could spend on myself." That was the longest explanation I ever had given someone about the cost of my clothes. I normally didn't want to tell anyone because they would want handouts and free stuff. And telling a girl that your mom does photography for Versace and Prada makes them want to get real close to you. I didn't think that Alice was like that somehow, because she knew the clothes well enough to know that they were designer, which meant that she probably had some in her wardrobe. The small town of Forks had a very distinct economic divide. You were either rich, like my parents or you didn't earn that much at all. I had a feeling Alice was in the former group.

"Awesome – you and I should go shopping at some point. There are some really nice designer outlets in Portland, and Seattle is incredible for shopping." Alice said excitedly as she pushed the suitcase into the corner and pulled another box towards her.

"That sounds good Alice," I said as I looked at her. It seemed like we were already friends.

It took three hours and a lot of laughter to get all of my boxes unpacked. I was more than surprised when Alice pulled my sports bag out of a box, and declared that we had unpacked everything. Not only had we unpacked everything, but we had put it all away as well. I suspected that it was mainly because of Alice's mad organisational skills, because that pixie sure could arrange everything! We had talked about so much while we organised – I was surprised by how open I was with Alice because I was a naturally introverted person. She told me that she and her mother had moved to Forks a few weeks after I had left for school, and how she had got to know Renee because her mother was sick and Renee took food over when she found out. I learnt about Alice's boyfriend who was a senior, and who would 'absolutely love' me apparently. I was going to meet him the next day, along with Alice's best friend Rosalie and all of the people who would obviously have been drawn to Alice's sunny personality.

We walked downstairs together to see that a mass of people had congregated in the front room. I looked at Alice I shock for a moment before everyone turned around and looked at me on the bottom step.

"Welcome home Bella!" they all shouted in unison. I smiled at them all and stepped down in order to try and find my mother and find out what had happened. Before I could get to her my father caught hold of my arm and directed me towards a middle aged man in a wheelchair and a teenage boy who looked too much like him to not be his son. I smiled at the two of them unconvincingly, but I didn't think that anyone noticed that.

"Bella, you remember Billy Black and his son Jacob, right?" Charlie said as he put a hand on the arm of Billy's chair. Those names made me realise who they were. Dad's friend Billy who always went fishing with him, and Jacob the kid who was a year younger than me and who I was inevitably put with when Renee was on a job and Charlie wanted to go fishing. I bitterly remembered being woken up at five in the morning, told to get dressed and then being taken out to the lake where I would play with Jacob and his older sisters Rachel and Rebecca, where our fathers could see us while they were on the water.

"Yeah sure I do, its good to see you guys again," I said and then looked around for my mother.

"Bella, Renee is probably mingling, you won't be able to find her any time soon," Jacob laughed as he pulled me into a quick hug. I stiffened and he pulled away quickly as he realised how tense I was. He took a step away and I let out the breath I was unconsciously holding. I let out a tense little laugh and then tried to smile again.

"You know – you are probably right!" I said as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Alice smiling up at me. She wrapped an arm around my waist and joined the rest of the group. "Jacob, Billy, this is Alice Brandon. She lives next door."

Jacob stuck out his hand and shook Alice's. As he let go I saw a faint hint of pain on his face. I looked at Alice and saw that her smile had become even bigger. I put my arm around her shoulders, feeling the need for it to be doing something other than hanging limply by my side. I also felt the urge to do something which would assist me in holding Alice back.

"Oh, I know Jacob Black," Alice said in her melodious voice. "Last year at nationals you punched my boyfriend in the face." She said the whole sentence with a giant smile, like she had no care in the world. Only the tension in her shoulders betrayed the anger that she was feeling. I rubbed her shoulder soothingly and tried to warn her with my eyes not to start anything. She looked at me for a moment and nodded, and then returned to smiling disconcertingly at Jacob. He looked vaguely frightened.

"Hey Billy, have you seen the cake that Mrs Crowley made for the party?" Charlie said, desperately looking for a way out. Bless him; he didn't want to get involved in the argument. I would have tried to do the same, but I felt the moral obligation to Alice to stay, because she had helped me all afternoon.

"Uh, no Charlie I haven't. You should show it to me." Billy said almost desperately as Charlie took hold of the wheelchair. "It was nice to see you again Bella." With that the two men disappeared into the crowd. Wimps.

"Wait – you're dating Jasper Whitlock?" Jacob said incredulously. Alice raised one eyebrow and nodded.

"Yeah, I am."

"Ahh, shit. I didn't mean what I said, I was just pissed that his team beat us again." He said apologetically as he took one step back.

"So you didn't mean it when you said that I was a no good skanky ho, for dating him? Because you know, I was right there. And if Rosalie hadn't of held me back, you would have walked away with worse than a broken arm. You wouldn't have walked away at all." The menace in her voice made me believe her. At that moment there was nothing more scary in the world than this small woman snarling at him. And evidently he agreed with me because he lifted his hands up and made a motion for her to calm down.

"Whoh girl, calm down. He started it," Jacob muttered defensibly, as he took another step back and collided with the wall. A look of pure terror crossed his face before he composed himself. If it hadn't been so serious I would have laughed at the whole situation. Here was a six foot five giant muscular Native American guy cowering in fear of a petite four foot eleven girl.

"He made a throwaway comment that your swimming hadn't been so good. You said that his girlfriend hadn't been so good either. Then you made that comment and pissed the whole team off. I'm surprised they didn't all jump you after the meet was over. You got off easy," with that comment Alice twisted the two of us around and began walking away. Her grip on my waist was so strong that I had no choice but to walk with her. When we were what Alice judged as a sufficient distance away from him we stopped and Alice looked up at me in apology.

"Sorry about that. I just can't stand that guy," she giggled.

"I can see why you might have a few problems with him," I laughed as I thought about the whole silly situation.

"Well, look at it this way. You just survived your first Forks grudge match!"

"That happens often?" I asked incredulously. How many grudges could a small town like this hold?

"You'd be surprised. There are so many people who are forced in close contact with people they hate in a small place like this. It leads to some... interesting confrontations. Believe me that was nothing compared to some of the big things that have gone down. Now come on, let's find that cake your dad was talking about!" she said gleefully as she took my hand and pulled me along. I tried to shake off a feeling of unease at the statement. There was clearly more to the small town of Forks than I could ever imagine. Two years had changed a lot.

Alice and I meandered about the party, looking for my mom. I was really starting to think that she had been abducted by crazed fashion lovers, when I noticed her standing in the corner, talking to a beautiful woman who looked so much like Alice that I could only assume that she was her mother. I could feel Alice's reluctance to approach our mothers, and I wondered what kind of relationship she had to have with her mother to be able to feel that way. As we got closer I could hear her mother's raucous laugh at something Renee had said, and watched as she swayed on her feet. She was very obviously drunk.

As I realised this I saw the embarrassment bloom on Alice's face. She had seen it too. She plastered an unconvincing smile onto her face, but I could see through the facade. I didn't think anyone else could though.

"Hey, Alice, let's go get some drinks," I said quietly in her ear as I steered her towards the kitchen. She smiled up at me gratefully as we bypassed out mothers and walked into the empty kitchen. I grabbed two cups from one of the cabinets. "What do you want to drink?"

"Um," Alice said, biting her lip. Suddenly she seemed subdued. "Do you have coke?"

"Yeah, I think so." I said as I looked through the fridge and the cabinets. Darn. I stood up and managed to hit my head on one of the higher cabinet doors which I left open. My hands flew to my head. "Ah, crap!"

"What's wrong?" Alice asked as she came and stood beside me, pulling my hands from my head. "Well, it's not bleeding, I think you just bumped it. Did you find any coke?" her voice was full of hope.

"Unfortunately, no. Renee went through this no sugar kick a couple of months back, part of a fad diet. She got rid of all the Coke, and since Charlie doesn't drink it they never got anymore. Don't worry, we can go to the store. I need to get out of here." That was an understatement and a half. Already I had been exposed to life in Forks for maybe half hour, and I was running on overload. There were so many people, who knew everything about me. It made me nostalgic for Phoenix and East Grean. At least there unless you did something to make people notice you, then you were ignored.

"Okay, do you want to use my car?" she asked as she looped her arm around mine again.

"Yeah, that would be great. Just let me tell Charlie where we are going,"

Ten minutes later Alice and I were on the way to the nearest grocery store to my house. Charlie had accepted my excuses, with a knowledgeable look in his eye, and told me to be back before Renee noticed that I was gone. He said this way I wouldn't have to explain to her why I ditched her specially planned party for half hour. I could see Charlie's logic. He sure knew Renee.

Alice had been quiet ever since we left the kitchen and got into her yellow Porsche. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she suddenly spoke. She was still looking out of the front windshield, avoiding eye contact with me.

"I don't get why she does it," she said almost inaudibly as she drove. "She drinks so much that it's actually a normal state for her to be plastered. I know Forks is a screwed up place, but I don't understand." I could hear the pain in her voice and I desperately wanted to put my arms around her and give her a hug to make it better. Clearly her mom's alcoholism affected her, more than she wanted people to see, that much was clear from her fake smile from earlier. Alice pulled into the parking lot and viciously rubbed at her eyes to try and get rid of the half formed tears. I pulled her hands away from her face and wrapped my arms around her.

"It was alright until we moved to Forks. She only drank in the evenings. Now she fucking depends on the stuff, and doesn't go out without drinking. I swear, this place corrupts everything!" I rubbed her back and let her cry on my shirt. Clearly this was something she hadn't talked much about.

After a few minutes Alice stopped crying and pulled away from my embrace. She smiled meekly at me and opened the car door. I got out of the car and followed her into the store.

We were standing at the checkout, with a twelve pack of cans and two big bottles when I noticed a short girl with super curly hair walking purposefully towards us. Alice growled quietly, and I looked at her in askance, but she just shook her head and nodded towards the girl.

"Be careful Bella," Alice warned as the girl stopped in front of me. She stuck her hand out in front of her and I reluctantly shook it, raising my eyebrows. Clearly this girl expected me to know who she was.

"Hi Bella, I'm Jessica, I thought I'd introduce myself. Your mom and my mom are like BFF's and she has totally like told me so much about you!" she squealed in her high pitched voice. I winced slightly as I wondered how she could stand to listen to herself all the time. I swear if it were me I would have burst my ear drums to escape the sound. Although, her voice was so high pitched it would probably do the job for me if I had to spend extended periods of time with her.

"You know, I can totally show you around school tomorrow! You are going to love it, like Forks high is like totally full of hot guys! And I mean Hawt!" she giggled as I looked amazed at her. How was I meant to respond to that? "Do you have a ride tomorrow? Because I could totally give you one, if you want!"

"I'm already taking her. She lives next door to me," Alice said suddenly. I hadn't been aware of the arrangement but I silently thanked God for Alice. She had just saved me from hours of torture. If Jessica's voice hadn't been enough, her language set me on edge. Surely she could refrain from using the word like in every sentence.

"Well, isn't that so nice of you Alice Brandon!" the sarcasm and malice dripped off Jessica's tongue as she smiled at Alice patronisingly. There was clearly some bad blood there. "Well, Bella I will see you in school. Toodles!"

With that she walked away, almost tripping in the cheap ho stilts she was wearing. Seriously, who wore high heels to the grocery store? I looked at Alice and burst out laughing.

"Did she seriously just say toodles?" I asked her between gasps for air. She nodded, laughing herself. Then the smile fell from her face.

"Bella, you need to be careful who you hang out with in Forks. There are so many people who would eat you alive." The warning in her tone was evident. Clearly there was more to the small town of Forks than first met the eye.

**So please read and review - tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2: I Dont Want To Be

**Thanks to my awesome beta - a little distracted!**

Chapter Two: I Don't Wanna Be

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned as I looked over at the alarm clock on my bed side table. 7:30. I was actually going to cry. It was the first day of school, and already I didn't want to be there – and I hadn't even left my bed yet. I forced myself to get out of the bed and shuffled to the bathroom to have a shower.

When I got back to my room a considerable time later, clad only in a towel, I was feeling a bit more awake, if only marginally. I stood in front of my open wardrobe, carefully considering what I was going to wear. I had no idea. It was bad enough to start a new school, but to start a new school in October was a nightmare. All the people would be used to each other, and would see me as the new oddity in town. Therefore, I had to dress to look and feel invincible. Not an easy task when it's the middle of freaking winter. I considered calling Alice to find out what she was wearing, but she beat me to it. Before I could pick my phone up it rang loudly, startling me. I slid it up and held it to my ear.

"Hi Bella!" Alice said in a suspiciously chirpy voice for six am in the morning. "I was wondering what you were going to wear today!"

"Honestly Alice, I have no idea. I just got out of the shower and have been standing in front of my wardrobe for about ten minutes trying to decide," I said gloomily as I considered all of my clothes.

"Its okay, Bella, I will come over and help. See you in a few minutes!" with that statement she cheerily put the phone down and I hurried to put some underwear on. I decided on neutral, so that anything we decided on would be alright.

A few seconds later I heard the doorbell ring, and my dad answering it. He laughed indulgently when he saw who it was.

"Bells, its Alice," he shouted good naturedly up the stairs. After that I heard the sound of little feet bounding up the stairs, and across the landing. Alice burst through my door without warning. She skidded to a stop in front of my wardrobe, facing me, where I sat on my bed, now wrapped in an incredibly plush full length bathrobe.

"Is that as far as you have gotten?" she asked incredulously. I nodded reluctantly and she immediately became business like. She was wearing black leggings with a short sleeved knitted black jumper which reached mid thigh. The jumper had geometric triangle designs made up of holes in the wool, which showed tantalising hints of a fire engine red tunic top. On her feet were leather boots which could only be described as "fuck me" boots. Clearly you dressed up for a day at Forks high. Alice walked to my wardrobe and immediately pulled out a pair of leggings.

"Nuh, uh Alice. I have only just arrived from Phoenix. There is no way in hell that I am going to wear leggings on my first day. I will freeze my butt off!" she shot me a look that said 'stop being a big baby' and put the leggings back. Instead she pulled out the tightest pair of black skinny jeans she could find and threw them at me. I struggled into them, and immediately felt better with having my legs covered in cloth. She looked through the sweaters for a few moments before pulling a short sleeved cream coloured sweater off its hanger. She passed me a white tank top and commanded me to put them on. I slipped the top on quickly before pulling the robe off and shoving it onto the bed. After I had put the sweater on Alice threw a belt at me.

"Wear that on your waist. Okay, I'll be back in about half hour and we can head to school." I nodded my assent and she skipped out of the room, looking like the fashion and style fairy. She just made my morning a whole lot easier. I sure as hell hoped that that was an omen for the rest of my day. It would definitely make starting a new school a little easier.

I put on a little bit of makeup and pulled out my favourite suede boots with the considerable wedge heel. I figured if Alice was wearing heels, then I could certainly get away with it. I packed up my bag and rushed downstairs to grab some food. Luckily for me Renee was already cooking some bacon for Charlie, so I only had to wait a few minutes for a bacon sandwich. Heaven.

As I sat and waited for Alice I thought of the rest of the party from the night before. It had been completely surreal. I had been introduced to everyone at the party, and could maybe name three which I could remember from my childhood. Clearly in the two years I had been away Forks had changed from a sedate small town, to a bloody rich one! Apparently, from what I heard, that had a lot to do with the growing affluence of certain old families and the relocation of certain.... undesirables. Clearly Forks was becoming a town of two halves.

I was distracted by my musings when Alice skipped through the door again. How she managed to skip in three inch spike heels I will never know. I found it funny when she stood next to Charlie and he still towered over her.

"Come, on Bella, let's go, you wouldn't want to be late on your first fun filled day of Forks High!" she teased as she grabbed hold of my arm and hoisted me from my chair. After a quick goodbye to both my parents I grabbed my bag and walked out of the front door. In front of me was a Porsche Panamera Turbo, in bright yellow.

"You are kidding me Alice. This is your car?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, my mom bought it for me in one of her moments of sobriety with Daddy Brandon's alimony. The child support is going into a trust fund for me apparently," she said as she pulled open the driver's door and slid in. I shook my head and slid into the passenger seat.

"I didn't even think that you could get this car in yellow," I commented as Alice pulled out of the drive.

"You can't. For my birthday Jasper got it spray painted from silver to yellow for me. I love the colour!" she giggled as she drove. I smiled, her enthusiasm was infectious.

We talked together for the rest of the drive, just discussing general things. What high school was like, and how everyone was. I began to feel more nervous the closer we got to the school.

We got to the high school a little before seven, and Alice directed me to the office before wishing me luck and leaving for her first class. I walked nervously into the office and was immediately met by a big smile and a person who I vaguely recognised from the night before.

"Isabella Swan!" she enthused, walking round from the back of the desk. "It's lovely to see you again. In case you've forgotten, I'm Shelley Cope. I have your schedule here. You have English first with Mr. Mason. I can call someone to show you the way to building three if you want?" she asked me as she handed me a piece of paper. Before I could say anything she picked up a phone from the desk and began talking. "Hi Susanne, yes I have someone who needs a little help..... well that's so kind of her.... yes I will keep Isabella here until she arrives!" she put the phone down, turned to me and smiled. "Jessica Stanley is coming to give you a tour."

What were the chances of the Jessica who had offered to show me around was not the Jessica I had met the night before? Very little I mused as I waited. In a town like this it was unlikely that there would be many people with the same name in the same school. Things didn't work like that. I internally groaned as Jessica tottered around the corner in a pair of sky scraper heels. They were stilettos with pink rhinestones all over them. Her top was black, low cut to the extreme and was very tight fitting, which wasn't a great look on her to be honest. The outfit was completed by a short pink mini skirt which must have been freezing. The only thing that came to me was Sharpay from High School Musical. Urg! I internally groaned again at the thought that I actually was able to name a character from that facade.

"HI Bella!" she screeched as she reached me, reaching a pitch which I was pretty certain could be used for dog whistles. "How awesome is it that I like get to show you round this place, I mean its like fate because I so totally know that you and me are going to be like BFF's and all that shit! I mean seriously awesome! Let's get going, and I will show you the places to hang, I mean there are no others!"

We had been walking around the school for about half hour, Jessica explaining every single minute detail of everything. Then all of a sudden she turned to me, her face suddenly turning from bimbo happiness to serious.

"Bella, I have something very important to talk to you about. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but you need to be careful who you associate with round here. There are certain undesirables which will do nothing for your social status, believe me. Like, I think that it would totally be best for you if you don't hang with Alice Brandon any more. She is not good people, even if she is dating Jasper Whitlock. Let's just say that her mom is not the right character for a town like this and Alice isn't that much better than her mom. She's like totally not right. I mean, she does like gymnastics, yet didn't join the cheerleading team. I mean, what is up with that? Anyway, she's also a total slut and totally stole Jasper from Maria who is like my BFF for like, ever. So I think you should avoid her, okay?" her question didn't really expect an answer and I didn't volunteer one. If I did the chances were that I would be incredibly rude and say something along the lines of 'Shut it bitch, you weren't there last night to help me unpack, and you sure as hell can't tell me who I can hang round with'. But I kept my peace. There was no point stirring up any problems, when Alice seemed to have no problem with Jessica's hatred of her, judging from her hysterical reaction the night before. I just continued to follow Jessica and tried my best to tune her voice out.

"So like, here we are! The period is almost over, but you know that Mason will just accept that you were getting a tour. So you should totally give me props, because I got you out of a boring lesson of like English which is so dull!" _yes, because an hour in your company was so much better_, I thought sarcastically to myself. And I resented the stab against English. It was my favourite subject although I doubted the novels chosen would be very original. I dutifully tuned back into what Jessica was still prattling on about. "...and I will totally see you at lunch!"

God no! I thought as I smiled unconvincingly at her and knocked on the door to the classroom. I heard a faint voice bidding me to enter the room and I did so. The teacher was in the middle of a lecture on Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and by the looks of it and was obviously a little annoyed by the interruption.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," I said as I entered the room. The teacher nodded and motioned towards the classroom. Clearly he didn't want to be pulled from his stride, and would talk to me afterwards. I gratefully took a seat in the middle row nearest to the wall and picked up the reading list which had been left there. Tess was on it, as was Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Wilde, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Stoker and Shelley. Some interesting choices for literature. Maybe the class would be different and more interesting than I thought.

There was not much left of the lesson and when the bell rung I approached the teacher. He listened to my reasons for being late, and then asked if I had read anything from the list before. I mentioned that the only one I had not read was Anna Karenia by Tolstoy, and he got incredibly excited by that. I promised that I would read it in my free time, and was commended for being so far ahead in the reading list. That lesson was alright, but I had a feeling that it was all going to get worse.

I was right. I had chosen French over Spanish as my language elective and was wondering why as I sat at the back of a crowded classroom next to Alice. We were listening to the teacher drone on about the future tense and how to form it correctly, something I had learnt two years ago, and I was utterly bored.

It had all started off fine. I had walked in, handed Madame Howell the piece of paper for her to sign and had noticed Alice waving to me, pointing at a free seat next to her. I smiled gratefully at her and began to walk towards her, but was stopped by the overzealous teacher with the most dreaded words a new student will ever hear from a teacher.

"You will introduce yourself!" she declared. I stood in front of the class and tried to smile at my new judgmental classmates.

"Hi, I'm Bella Sw...."

"En Français!" she roared at me.

"Oh. Bonjour, je m'appelle Bella, et j'ai dix sept ans," I muttered. She smiled at me encouragingly and I took that as a sign to sit down, but yet again she stopped me.

"Pouvez vous parler un peu de ton vie?" there was no option with the question. I was going to tell her a little about my life.

"Oui, bien sur. J'habite avec mon pere, et, il est un policier . J'apprecie les romans, particulièrement les romans fantasme, et j'aime passer du temps avec mes amis ou regarder des nouvelles films."

After that she allowed me to sit and Alice comforted me with the fact that Madame Howell was the most evil of all the teachers. That was a small comfort. She had started the lesson and I had soon become bored with the basic subject. I started doodling, and noticed Jessica sat in the corner next to some other girl with short blonde hair and a snotty expression which just screamed a self importance issue. They were looking seriously over at me, moving between contemplative and downright nasty as they looked between me and Alice. Clearly they were shocked that I hadn't taken Jessica's earlier warning to heart. Clearly they thought they ran the school. I smiled at them and they quickly looked back to the board. It was when I was still looking away that Madame Howell decided to pick on me.

"Mademoiselle Swan! Pouvez vous ecouter!" she screeched. I nodded and looked at the board.

"J'irai, tu iras, il ira, nous irons, vous irez et ils iront." She nodded, placated, and I returned to my doodling.

The next two lessons, History and Government & Politics, passed in a blur. I soon found myself walking with Alice towards the canteen for the best time of the day. Lunchtime, where I would yet again be scrutinised and watched by all. Joy!We walked along the hallway and I could see everyone watching us. I was starting to understand how animals in a zoo felt. No wonder they would sometimes lash out at people. Halfway through the day and I was ready to claw someone's eyes out to stop them from staring at me.

We walked through the door to the canteen and I was met by a shrill cry.

"Bella!" Jessica screamed over the noise in the canteen. I turned to see her frantically waving to me from her seat on one of the tables. I could see an admiring group of people around here, who were shocked that she was on speaking terms with the 'new girl'. It was then that I understood why she was so interested in me. Jessica was a person who loved the limelight, and thrived on any attention. By getting to know me she was guaranteed attention by the students who wanted to know about the new addition to the school. She could get her attention fix and start to spread gossip around. How telling. She probably didn't get enough attention at home.

I realised then that in order to reach the food we had to pass directly by the table. I would have to interact once again with the odious Jessica Stanley.

"Bella, once you have your food you should totally sit with us. I can give you the 411 on everything that is worth anything in Forks!" Jessica squealed as she almost jumped out of her seat in excitement.

"It's alright Jessica. I already said I would sit with Alice," I said dryly as we continued walking. Jessica looked awestruck at the thought that I could actually be rejecting her proposals. Alice laughed when we got out of hearing distance and turned to me.

"You know, you shouldn't feel obliged to sit with me," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "I mean, you should like totally go sit over there!" she said, imitating Jessica to a T. I laughed and linked arms with her.

"No thanks Alice, I'd rather keep my hearing!"

We bought our food and Alice steered me towards a table where some of the most beautiful people in the whole school sat. There was a muscular guy with long, honey blonde hair sat to one side, clearly waiting for someone. His eyes were a deep brown and haunting with deep dark circles underneath. Clearly he hadn't been sleeping much, but even that could not mar his beauty. In fact, if anything it only widened his appeal, because it gave him the bad boy look that every girl just wants to save. The way his face lit up when Alice approached made it clear who he wanted to save him. Next to him was the most muscular guy I had ever seen outside the television. He had a fully beefed up physique and a face which was totally at odds with the beefcake appearance. His face had an impish look to it, as if he was always joking around, and his hair curled on his head. There appeared to be no hidden depths within his brown eyes. He had his arm around a stunning modelesque woman. She had elegantly curled blonde hair which framed her face and brilliant blue eyes which were like stone cold diamonds. There was a hidden depth there, a hard edge to offset her soft beauty. Alice cleared her throat and they all turned to her.

"Hi guys, this is Bella. She just moved in next door. Bella, this is Jasper, the beefy guy is Emmett and this is Rosalie, my best friend." I smiled at each of them in turn, and both of the guys nodded. Rosalie just stared at me. Alice sat down next to Jasper and immediately curled under his arm. I nervously took a seat, feeling very awkward with the oppressive silence pressing down on us.

"Hey Bells, what do you have next? One of us might be in your class," Alice said excitably breaking the silence, which seemed like it would go on for eternity. I still felt a bit awkward, but I reached underneath the table to grab my bag, so I could get my schedule to show Alice. I grabbed the piece of paper and moved to sit back down. Unfortunately I was still underneath the table and ended up whacking my head against the metal strut which supported it.

"Oh shit. Dobby's sock!" I swore as leant back and put my hand against my head, which was now pounding. I heard a laugh guffaw from across the table and turned to see Emmett laughing loudly.

"Snape, Snape, severus Snape!" Emmett sang with much gusto.

"Dumbledore!" Alice chimed in happily. I laughed and joined in.

"Ron, Ron, Ron Weasley," I laughed as a sang

"Harry Potter! Harry Potter, Harry Potter! Oooh!" Jasper said, his calm voice making it even more amusing. We carried on like this for a few moments before I said:

"It's a pipebomb!" everyone lapsed into loud laughter. Then Emmett sang once more, so the whole cafeteria could hear.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, oooh Voldy Voldy mort!" he collapsed into fits of giggles. The whole table was laughing. All except for Rosalie. She glared coolly at all of us.

"You all have problems. Seriously. And don't even tell me why you cursed by saying something like that. I'm out of here," with that Rosalie gracefully stormed from the room. I looked after her in amazement. We were just having a laugh! Evidently my face had fallen into a look of confusion.

"Don't worry about Rosie, she just doesn't loosen up very easily," Emmett boomed through the silence. He shrugged and smiled at me. "So tell me Bella, why the quoting of the Potter Puppet Pals? I mean, they are immense, I will give you that!"

"So, this is kind of embarrassing, but when I was in Phoenix I had a friend who was living with her parents. They were major religious fanatics, and if she ever swore they would confiscate her car, phone and laptop. Her parents also believed that Harry Potter was for Satanists and witches, so she and I would watch the Potter Puppet Pals on Youtube in my dorm room and she would use stuff from there to swear with, because it was her way of getting one up on her parents. They had no idea that she was quoting anything Harry Potter related, so they were happy, and she was happy." I didn't mention that her parents used to beat her as well. That was a bit deep for a first meeting with anyone. The rest of the group smiled at me, and I felt more welcome then than I had all day. Emmett and Jasper soon began their own conversation with each other about baseball, or something like that. Alice turned back to me and asked again about my schedule. Wordlessly I handed it to her, and she inspected it, informing me that I had biology with Angela next, then study hall and Calculus, and then PE with her, Emmett and Jasper. I groaned at the last admission. I was hopeless at PE. Put me in front of a net or a hoop and give me a ball and I will find some way to damage at least one, or the other, and normally myself along the way. Alice grinned at me with glee.

"Bella, its going to be so much fun. I mean we have badminton!" as soon as I heard the word I groaned. It was not wise to give me a racket and ask me to hit a small flying object. People only got hurt when I tried to hut a small flying object. "Don't worry Bells, we are almost finished with badminton. In a couple of weeks we will be onto swimming, and that is always a drag with Coach Clapp. He is such a perv!" she whined.

"Are you being serious Alice?" Jasper asked in his cool melodious voice. There was an undercurrent of indignant protectiveness in his voice, as if he would deck anyone who would perv on Alice. It must be nice to have someone like that in your life. I had that once.

"Not really Jasper, nothing worth going ape shit over. I mean, he just looks at us weirdly when we are in the pool. You are so lucky that they got a coach from LA for you guys. Why do you think none of the girls wear two pieces? It sure as hell isn't because we're that serious about the swimming!" she laughed. Jasper still looked slightly uneasy, but relaxed somewhat.

The bell rang then, and I stood up quickly. I did not want to be late to any other class. I said a quick goodbye to the guys, hugged Alice and then trudged off to my locker.

_French translations:_

_Bonjour, je m'appelle Bella, et j'ai dix sept ans = Hello, my name is Bell and I'm 17_

_Pouvez vous parler un peu de ton vie = Can you speak a little about your life (literal translation)_

_Oui, bien sur. J'habite avec mon pere, et, il est un policier . J'apprecie les romans, particulièrement les romans fantasme, et j'aime passer du temps avec mes amis ou regarder des nouvelles films = Yes, of course. i live with my dad, and he is a policeman. I like novels, perticularly fantasy novels, and i like to spend my time with my friends, or watching new films_

_Pouvez vous ecouter = Can you listen_

_J'irai, tu iras, il ira, nous irons, vous irez et ils iront = i will go, you will go, he will go, we will go, you will go and they will go (the future tense form of the verb to go)_

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	3. Chapter 3: Leaving Town Alive

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. If I did I wouldn't be worrying about how to afford University now would I? **

**Thanks to my AWESOME beta A Litlle Distracted, and to all the BFFF'ers - you all ROCK!**

**Chapter title comes from Leaving Town Alive by Bethany Joy Galleotti**

_**Go and make your mistakes, **_

_**Don't be surprised if the sun rises,**_

_**Life is for the living, **_

_**The forgiving **_

_**And for leaving town alive**_

Chapter Three: Leaving Town Alive

EPOV

"Edward! Edward! Edward!" a voice screeched in my ear as a big lump jumped onto my chest. Immediately I snarled and pushed at the dead weight which was crushing me. My little nine year old sister Fenella was sitting in the middle of my chest, screaming out the words to fucking High School Musical at the top of her voice. I grabbed her legs and pushed her off me, snarling at her for waking me up at the crack of dawn. She ended up on the floor and immediately started crying.

I sat up and groaned. What a fucking brilliant start to the fucking day. Only two more years in this fucking hell hole.

"Fella what the fuck are you doing!" I shouted at her as she cried on the floor. I admit, I was a bit of a dick in the morning when I was tired, but at that point I really didn't give a shit.

"Edward!" my father roared at me through the door as he passed by. "What do you think you are doing?" he walked into my room and picked my sister up, murmuring soothingly into her ear. I shrugged and looked towards the clock.

"To be honest dad it is five thirty in the fucking morning! I don't give a shit!" I swore at him as I got out of bed and walked into my closet. I grabbed a pair of black jeans, a white shirt and my vintage black leather jacket. That James Dean shit always seemed to go down well with the ladies, though I didn't have much trouble scoring normally. They seemed to eat all of my tortured bullshit up and loved it. I didn't complain.

I walked down the stairs and grabbed my car keys from the kitchen counter and breezed past my mother without another word. I was not in the mood for her touchy feely shit that morning. She shouted after me, but I ignored her. Like I said, I was a dick in the morning.

I walked out to my Volvo S60R, and pulled my phone out of my pocket. If I was up at fucking five thirty in the morning, then someone else would have to be too. I looked down my contacts list, and chose Jessica Stanley. She was always up for a little before school action, and, man, that girl gave good blow jobs. Course, when you did it as much as she did, even a monkey would be able to get some skills. She was one of the reasons why I carried condoms around with me at all times. I was not going to get some STD because she couldn't keep her legs closed. I slid into the leather seats and made the call.

"Edward!" she screeched in my ear. Just what I needed. I'd forgotten about her tendency to talk like a fucking idiot at a pitch that only dogs should be able to hear. "What are you doing, calling me this early?"

I almost laughed out loud at that. I knew for a fact that Stanley had already been up for at least an hour, getting ready for school. I never understood that shit.

"Well Jess," I said smoothly, using what I had heard being called my sex phone operator voice. Hey, I was tried to get laid. I was going to pull out what I knew worked. Though, I never really had to work hard anyway. "I was thinking that I could drop by and pick you up a bit early. That way we could have some fun before school."

"Edward Cullen what kind of a girl do you think I am?" _um, a slag?_ I thought to myself as I listened to her outraged giggles. "Come by in about ten minutes and I will be outside."

I snapped my phone closed and smiled to myself. About one minute to convince her to come and fuck me. That must have been some kind of record. I put the car into drive and backed out of the drive way.

"Edward!" she squealed as she climbed into my car. I internally groaned, as I turned to smile at her. "What are we going to do this morning?" she asked, trying to look coy. I smirked at her.

"You'll see." I looked her up and down and smiled to myself. Jessica sure was easy and dressed to make fucking her as quick as possible. Today she was wearing a short skirt which barely covered her ass and a short tight shirt which showed off her tits. Didn't exactly flatter her, but, hey, all I cared about was getting laid. She could wear whatever the hell she liked.

"Edward, have I ever said how much I love that jacket on you?" she asked me inanely, and made me wonder why I had called her that morning and not Jane. Jane at least kept her mouth shut.

"Yeah, Jess you have."

"Oh My god, Edward I forgot to tell you! I totally saw Bella Swan yesterday and guess who she was hanging with? That slut Alice Brandon. I mean, she's been in town like two minutes and already hanging with the wrong people." I didn't really listen to her shit. I liked Alice. She was dating my best friend Jasper, and although she was a bit hyper active she was nice. Jessica just had a problem with her because of some shit with her dad. I didn't know the details and didn't really care.

I drove into a secluded bit of forest where people only ever went if they were fucking. Then I pulled as far in as I could, so if someone else turned up they wouldn't see us. I turned the car off and jumped out, indicating to Jess that we weren't going to fuck in my car.

**~**

Jessica huffed when I dropped her back at her house so she could drive her own ass to school. Edward Cullen wasn't any girls ride to school. People would assume shit and I didn't do relationships. I didn't date, I only fucked. It made shit so much easier. Still didn't stop Jessica from trying to get a ride at every opportunity she could. I always told her that if she wanted someone to give her a ride she should just called Newton. He was desperate to go monogamous with her. Course she would never do that because Newton was extremely clingy. His last girlfriend had to get a restraining order. Even screwing him made a girl risk him latching onto her and dedicating his 'undying and eternal love' for her. Newton was pathetic.

I almost pushed Jessica out of the front seat and began making my way to school. It was mostly dry, so I made it there in good time. I got out of my car slowly and grabbed my bag from the trunk where I had left it the night before. Training always started half hour after school finished so between that time and study hall I always got my homework done and didn't have to take my bag in the house. Made it real easy for days like this when I had to get out the house quickly in the morning because of some sort of fuck up

I started walking towards the school and out of the corner of my eye I saw Alice getting out of her Porsche. I smiled softly. At least one good thing had come from her parents broken down marriage and her mother's alcoholism.

**~**

"Hey, Edward!" Jasper greeted me as I walked through the main door towards my locker. We bumped fists and he fell into step beside me. Jasper and I had been friends since we both moved in at about the same time, and tried out for the swimming team.

"Jasper, you're meeting me? In the morning? I thought you would be meeting Alice and carrying her books," I grinned. Jasper was so pussy whipped it was unbelievable. Alice had him wrapped round her little finger, and he was insanely protective of her. Course, some of that had to do with the fact that Alice was a munchkin. Most guys couldn't help but feel protective of her, especially all the guys on the team. We looked out for the girls on the team, and the girls the guys were dating.

"Funny Edward, funny. You know I wouldn't be meeting you if we didn't have shit to discuss. Coach has arranged tryouts this afternoon after school. Apparently some new freshman blood looks promising. You gonna be there?" he asked me as I opened my locker. I shoved all my books in there and pulled out a tattered copy of my Spanish text book.

"Yeah man, I'll be there. It would look like shit if the captain of the team just didn't turn up, wouldn't it?" I grinned at him. He hit my shoulder good-naturedly.

"Junior captain," he corrected and laughed. He was silent for a few moments, before realising something. "Oh yeah, I meant to ask you last night. Can I borrow your stroke analysis DVD? My dad has been riding my ass recently. Says I have to improve my breaststroke if I want to ever get to nationals this year."

"Jazz, that's bull. You're the best breaststroker we have!" I snorted as we walked down the hallway to Spanish. Senora Goff would have an apoplectic fit if we were even a few minutes late.

"Yeah, try telling him that." Jazz's dad was a major swimming buff. He swam in high school, but got injured and resented life afterwards. When Jazz started swimming he started living vicariously through his son, and sometimes was more dedicated than Jasper was. Go to their house and there were 'inspirational' messages on all of the walls and pictures of great swimmers wallpapered most of the rooms. When you went into their gym you had the forbidding eyes of Phelps, Thorpe, Spitz and Hackett watching you as you worked out. Mr. Whitlock thought they would inspire his son. I personally thought they were slightly creepy. He also went to every single swimming meet we did, however big or small. To me that was slightly bordering on obsession because he was the only parent in the team who did that.

We walked into Spanish and sat down in our normal seats, at the back. All anyone was talking about was the new girl who at school. From the way they were all talking about her you'd think someone had successfully cloned an elephant. The new girl was going to have everyone staring at her. I recalled that Jessica had said something about her hanging round Alice, and realised at some point I would probably meet the new wonder child. I just knew she would be yet another plastic bimbo who would annoy the fuck out of me. The least I knew about her the better.

Jazz turned to me for a moment as Goff walked in. He leaned in and whispered to me.

"Oh yeah, and coach asked me to remind you that morning training starts up again tomorrow. So no more early morning booty calls for you."

"That's what you think," I whispered back.

**~**

The morning passed quickly. Instead of going to lunch I went to the swimming coach's office and got our coach, Graeme Thomas to give me a note so I could go to the store instead of buying the crap they served in the cafeteria. The good thing about being part of one of the most successful swimming teams in the country was that since we brought the town and the school such prestige we got cut a lot of slack. We could go off campus if we had a note from Graeme (who was head coach of the swimming programme), and could get out of lessons if he organised team meetings, extra training or one on one sessions.

Life as a star athlete made things so much easier. Because in Forks it wasn't football or basketball that put it on the map, it was swimming. And for these small town people anything that put the tiny town on the map was to be celebrated and protected. Course it helped that everyone was filthy rich in the town too.

As I was walking around the store I thought about the tryouts we would be holding later. Only the best made it on our team, and then there was a 'B' team for those who didn't make the cut but still wanted to swim. Every tryout was the same. Graeme would step back and allow the older swimmers to put the new ones through their paces so he could get a picture of their swimming without him even talking to them. We would get them in the pool, and get them to do all the strokes. If someone couldn't swim one of the strokes they were automatically put on the 'B' list.

We weren't going to waste Graeme's and our own time. They would race each other, and the fastest or the ones with the best stroke would race one of us in their chosen stroke. If they were decent enough they would have a couple of week's trial to see if they could keep up with our training schedule. If they could they were made part of the team. Very few people ever did though, because they didn't really realise the amount of training we did.

Every day after school we practised for two hours, then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we did an hour in the gym after practise. Saturday was our free day because it was normally competition day and Sunday afternoon we swam for two hours plus an hour gym afterwards. Every morning except for Monday there was an hour of training from 5:30 – 6:30 before school. We gave up a lot to swim.

I got back to school in plenty of time for my next lesson, biology. I went in and sat down. I was first in the classroom, so I pulled out a swimming magazine.

Bella POV

I walked into the classroom which was nearly empty and tripped over the doorstop. The people in the room laughed as I crashed into a skeleton and took it down with me. I blushed a furious red and stood up as the teacher walked towards me. I apologised profusely and he smiled, picking up the pieces of skeleton.

"Don't worry about it Miss Swan. You have just given me something to make the freshmen do in their detention this afternoon. I'm Mr. Banner," he said as he sat the plastic bones aside. I handed him my slip and waited to be told where to sit.

"Well, Miss Swan, this is a pretty full class. I think the only free space is over by Mr. Cullen over there." He gestured to one of the few people sitting in the class.

I turned to look at him and was bowled over. The guy he was pointed to was staring intently at an open magazine, clearly interested in what he was reading. His hair was a colour of bronze I had never seen before and was styled into a windswept casual disarray, which I was sure appealed to pretty much all of the women in the school. I know it made me want to melt. He had perfect alabaster skin and features which looked like they had been sculpted from marble. I could see the subtle muscles of his arms and chest, the type a runner or swimmer has. A leather jacket adorned his muscular frame, and I could see a white t-shirt peeking out from underneath. Very James Dean. All in all he was one perfect specimen of manhood.

I walked over to the desk and sat down on the stool as quietly as I could. He didn't look up once.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," I said cheerily as I put my books on the table next to his and my bag on the floor. I figured that I should at least say something. He lifted his eyes from his magazine and glared at me. I found myself slightly mesmerised by the bright emerald of his eyes. Those were eyes which could look into your soul.

"I know." He looked back at the magazine, and I could see that it was an article on the newest regulations of swim wear. I knew that the world swimming regulator FINA had had to introduce strict rules on the swim wear that everyone was allowed to wear in a competition after the uproar about the so called "super suits" which helped break over 100 world and Olympic records in 2008. Now male swimmers were only allowed to wear suits which went from their waist to their knees and females were allowed to wear suits that went from their shoulders to their knees.

"Um, are you into swimming then?" I asked, feeling very awkward with the silence which had grown between the two of us. He gave me a look of such contempt and loathing that I almost reeled back in fear.

"Yes. I am 'into swimming' as you so idiotically put it. If you knew anything about the sport then you wouldn't even ask." He said, his words even, the hatred dripping from every syllable. I was struck by the malice and the words he used. I was only trying to be nice! I shook my head and turned towards the front. Let him think I knew nothing about the sport. I didn't care that he didn't know how wrong he was.

**~**

The rest of the class went by slowly, as I was aware of every glare Edward sent my way as I moved or made any kind of noise. I tried to concentrate on the lecture, but found myself wondering why I was hated so much by this boy I had just met. I tried not to let it bother me. I was not in Forks to get anyone interested in me. If they hated me then it did not matter because I didn't care.

Class ended and Edward swept out of the room quickly, before I had even grabbed my books. I watched him walk away and then shook myself and packed my things away. His behaviour did not matter! I internally scolded myself.

As I walked out of the room almost in shock someone pushed into me and knocked me over. I felt myself go crashing into the floor, and cried out in pain as my knee twisted and I landed awkwardly. I lay there for a few moments, shell shocked.

"Oh, my god I am so sorry!" a guy babbled as he knelt down next to me. "I totally didn't see you there! Can I help you up?"

I shook my head and cringed away from him as it reminded me of a similar occurrence from my first day at East Green. I shied away from the memory and forced myself back into the present. He reached out to touch me, but I backed away a little again and reached for my knee. It was throbbing with pain and I was pretty sure that it was swelling up, although I couldn't see too well through the jeans.

I ignored the guy's hand and inched my way up the wall slowly, nursing my knee. I managed to become vertical again for a few moments before I accidentally put weight on my hurt leg. As I began falling, someone caught me around my waist and picked me up, almost effortlessly. They pulled me up into their arms and carried me back into the classroom. It was only when they set me down on the desk that I looked up at them and saw brilliant green eyes staring down at me. I was about to thank him when he turned and walked out, leaving me sitting on one of the lab tables.

Something occurred to me then. Why hadn't I shied away when Edward Cullen touched me?

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	4. Chapter 4: Who You Are Without Me

Chapter four: Who You Are Without Me

**I finally got the next chapter up. I know its been a long time, but as Jasper would say, College has been riding my ass, lots of work, and the stress of knowing I have exams in three months! Anyway, Thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter for me, I like to see what other people think**

**I have a playlist of the songs which make up the chapter titles and my inspiration on my profile now - check it out!**

**Thanks to A Little Distracted – Hun you are an AWESOME beta!**

**Also thanks to the BFFer's of Twilight fanfiction – you girls bring light and Rob porn to my darkest days. You should really come join our insanity – we have a website now!**

_You put me up on a pedestal_

_I've got nowhere to go but down_

_You expect the impossible_

_And its too much to carry around_

_**Who you are without me – Kate Voegele**_

Edward POV

I sat in the biology classroom, reading my magazine as people began to slowly filter in. Immediately the companionable silence I had felt with only myself and Mr. Banner in the room was destroyed, the inane babbling of the bitches and the idiotic boasting of the assholes invading the space. I sighed loudly and tried to continue with my reading.

I was made suddenly aware of the new girl as she came crashing into the classroom. She walked through the doorway and immediately collided with the skeleton, which Banner had put there as some sort of twisted welcome to anyone who walked through the door. She fell forward, taking the skeleton with her, and ended up on the floor, surrounded by plastic bones. I fought the urge to laugh as I looked at her footwear. _If you are going to wear wedges like that then you are just asking for trouble_ I thought to myself as I smirked. That was another thing which I could not understand about the girls. They dressed up like it was some fashion parade. It was only high school, for fucks sake. She was no different. She wore tight black jeans which hugged her admittedly remarkable ass, and clung to her legs, until they merged seamlessly with her ridiculous boots. Her top half was covered by a knitted cream jumper and a belt around her waist, exaggerating her curves.

As she stood up I finally got a view of her face. I would be lying if I said I was no shocked, or even pleasantly surprised, when she turned her gaze towards the classroom. She was absurdly beautiful. He skin was a pale cream, a shade which rivalled some of the palest complexions in this rain soaked town. However, others would have looked ill and sickly with that complexion. She looked stunning her deep red lips and chocolate brown eyes stood out dramatically against her skin, making her look exotic.

I shook my head and tried to return to normality. If she was beautiful it meant that she would definitely be one of the people who knew it and tried to take advantage of that. As I contemplated I realised that the only spare seat was next to me. Shit. I could see her approach the table following Banner's instructions and I let out a string of violent curses in my head. Of course I would get stuck with her. Just my fucking luck.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," She said with too much cheer and pep, oblivious to the fact that I was immersed in magazine. The first sign of proof that she was as vapid as most of the bitches in the school. I looked up at her and glared, hoping to get her to leave me alone. She would have to be in my class where the only spare seat was next to me. I would have to deal with her for the rest of the year, all of her shit and petty girl problems which she would want to talk about. Fuck me! Could it get any worse? I liked the fact that I sat on my own in Biology. It meant that no lab partner would mess up any practical's or any shit like that. Now in order to keep my good grades I would have carry her sorry ass.

"I know." I looked back at the magazine, hoping to have dissuaded her from talking to me again. It didn't work.

"Um, are you into swimming then?" was she seriously asking me that question? I wasn't as egotistical to assume that she had heard of me and my swimming, but why on earth would I be reading an article in a fucking swimming magazine. I didn't just read _Splash!_ for kicks. I would be sitting next to a vapid idiot for a year, at least, who had no idea about the sport. I was betting when she found out I was on the swim team she would suddenly develop an obsession about the sport and come to every meet she could. Most of her type in the school had done exactly that. Stanley was at all of the meets – she had even flown out with the team to fucking nationals last year.

"Yes. I am 'into swimming' as you so idiotically put it. If you knew anything about the sport then you wouldn't even ask." I turned away from her in disgust. Just another stupid bimbo. I couldn't wait to leave this town behind.

~*~*~*~

I sat through the painfully long biology lesson, aware of every movement of the girl beside me. I had no idea why, but she had the capacity to infuriate me with even the lightest of sighs, or the smallest of movements. Every time she did I could not help but glare at her. She shrunk away from me every time, and I felt a small satisfaction at this minute victory. Hopefully she would get the clue and would stay out of my way.

As I left the classroom and turned to my locker, which was a little way down from the biology door I saw an interesting situation out of the corner of my eye. Against my better judgement I turned towards the cause of the disturbance.

I stood back and watched as Newton barrelled into the new girl. I felt a small bit of concern as she went crashing into the floor, but pushed it away. It wasn't my job to make sure she was okay. That was Newton's job. She would probably revel in the attention he was bound to give her after this. I watched as he stood idiotically gaping at her, and internally groaned. He was an imbecile! After a few excruciating moments he scrambled towards her and made some pathetic apology. I watched as she flinched back from his hand and almost... cowered away. Interesting. She backed into the wall and began to try and make her way to her feet. Newton just stayed there crouching, with his mouth open enough to catch flies.

She inched her way up the wall, her back pressed against it as if it gave her some sort of security. I felt something akin to pity as I watched her persevere to get to her feet on her own. Either she was a die hard feminist who refused to have male help, or there was something deeper. She looked positively frightened by Newton's proximity. I watched as the new girl finally made her way to her feet, and saw her sway onto the leg which I was pretty sure had been damaged during the fall. Her face contorted with pain and she began to fall again. Before I could make sense of what I was doing I rushed forwards, caught her and swung her up into my arms, bridal style. After sending a glare in Newton's direction I carried her into the classroom and set her onto the counter as gently as possible. Before she could say a word to me, either reprimanding me for my help or thanking me profusely (as most girls would do in that situation) I walked out of the room quickly, eager to get to my next period of Trig.

~*~*~*~

The rest of my day was, frankly, shit. There were only two things which stopped me from cutting class and going home for the rest of the day, or at least until training. One was the knowledge that my mother would be at home, and she would not have forgotten about the shit which I had caused that morning. No she would still be pissed and I would have to deal with that crap on top of her having a go at me for leaving school early. The second was that Graeme would find out and he would have a go at me later, for shirking my scholastic responsibilities. Never mind that I was the most intelligent student in the school. I still had to abide by Graeme's rules. If I wanted to train and compete I had to be in my classes. His theory was that if you were not able to go to class then you were not fit to be in his pool. Not surprisingly, most of the swimmers bided by his rules. It was a testament to our dedication and Graeme's talent as a coach. Not many coaches could claim that they could stop their athletes from skipping with a few choice words.

I found myself desperately looking forward to the trials after school. It would feel good to get into the water and shout at the cocky little shits who would undoubtedly be there. I wanted to get rid of the frustration which had been building up within me the whole day, undoubtedly made worse by my interactions with the new girl earlier on in the day. I still couldn't forget the fear in her face as she backed away from Newton and that pissed me off. I should not be interested in her, or any of her shit. I should just ignore her, like the rest of the girls in the school, and then she was disappear into the masses, no more of an individual than Stanley, or Mallory. Yet I couldn't help but wonder about what had caused such an adverse reaction within her. And that just pissed me off even more. Yes. I definitely needed to get into the pool.

After my last period I swung by my locker and pulled out the swimming stuff I had stashed in there the evening before when we had come to training and discovered the pool was too cold to swim in. Legally Graeme would have been in shit if he had made us train. Course, most of us were up for it, but he told us bluntly that there was no way in hell that he was going to let us in the pool, so we shut up, and spent the two hours in the gym. I spent the short walk to the swimming pool not thinking about much if I was honest. I got myself into my zone, the mental state in preparation for weeding out all except for the best.

I walked into the changing room, one of the first to be there. One of the perks of being the smartest person in the school is the teachers gave me a lot of slack. Most days I got to leave class early, as long as I had the homework down. Ah, the life of a brilliant athlete. Jazz was in there already, as was Felix. I personally hated that fucker and his acne covered face, but he was a damn good freestyler, and was the fourth person in our 200 freestyle relay team. So I dealt with him, and his depressive shit because he was good for the team. The locker room was laid out in a predictable format. Two sets of lockers were down the centre, with a bench between the two of them, and one on each side. Around the outer edge of the changing room was a long bench, which had hooks for bags and clothes above it.

"Hey man," Jazz said as I dumped my bag next to him. My locker was right next to his, which was already open, his jacket thrown casually in it. We bumped fists and I shrugged out of my leather jacket. I was a bit more anal about my things than Jasper, and so hung it up on the hook I put in there for this purpose. We changed as the room became louder with people entering together. All of the existing team members went straight to their lockers, the hopefuls changing on the outer bench. They all stood out from the seasoned swimmers. While we all changed into jammers, or tight shorts, there was an eclectic mix of swim wear among the hopefuls. There were a few in jammers and tight shorts, while there were others in Speedos and even baggy shorts. Those in baggy shorts were in for a shock.

As I pulled my Forks High Swim Team hoodie on I saw Jasper turn to me speculatively. As soon as the hoodie was on properly, I turned to him in askance.

"So you sit next to Bella in Biology huh," he said casually. I raised one eyebrow at him.

"So what?"

"When Newton knocked her over earlier she fell onto her one knee, and it was swollen and hurting her so bad that Alice had to take her to the hospital before PE," he looked expectantly at me, as if I was supposed to have some sort of reaction. I was surprised, but not unduly so. After all, the knee had given out when she had reached her feet, and that was why I had to catch her. A sudden burst of understanding hit me. Jazz thought that I would be concerned because I caught her.

"You heard that I caught her." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, I did. Thought you might care about what happened to her."

"To be honest Jazz, I caught her and carried her into the classroom because Newton was too much of a douche to do it himself. It was nothing more." I said it with a conviction I no longer felt. I was concerned about Bella Swan. Jasper raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"If you say so man. But if you ask me, Bella is pretty cool. You should give her a chance." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow at Jasper in disbelief. Jasper just thought that because Alice already apparently loved the girl. He was so whipped. I grabbed my hat and goggles and we walked slowly out to poolside.

The pool was one of the best in the state in terms of facilities and the general quality of up keep. There were so many swimming pools around the US which looked dirty and felt horrible to walk about, places where swimmers would wear trainers until the very last minute because they did not want to touch the filthy floor. Our pool was nothing like it. When we started to gain attention and sponsorship the school totally overhauled the pool and changing rooms, making it state of the art. It was only a 25m pool, but it had a floating floor which could be adjusted to any depth, brilliant diving blocks, and raised sides at either end. There also was a separate diving pit which we trained in every so often to get used to swimming so far away from the floor. There were, after all, pools in which the floor suddenly deepened, and it could be unnerving going from 1.9m to 3.8m, like you were swimming over a cliff, and were going to fall down the side. Strange, but undoubtedly true. The pool side was clean, with no gunk which normally characterised a poolside, and could seat at least 500 spectators. Yeah, our pool was pretty darn good.

Standing together on the poolside were the rest of the swimming team, me and Jazz, being the last ones out onto poolside. Each of them were one of the best in their distance and stroke. What was funny was that strokes wise, we were all paired up, except for Garrett, who was a distance freestyler, and not many people in their right mind do 800 and 1500 metres freestyle. Felix and Renata did 100 and 200 free, Jazz and Irina did 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 free, Tyler was paired with Jane as they both swam 200 free, 100 and 200 back, Alec and Angela were short distance backstrokers, Peter and Charlotte were IM swimmers and Anna and Lee were short distance breastrokers. I was paired with Kate, because we both swam 100, 200 Fly and 100, 200 free. We had more boys than girls in the team, but I suppose that was a given in a town where the majority of girls would end up crying about chlorine in their hair. Felix and Kate were the senior captains, and myself and Angela were the junior captains. Captainship was more of a formality than anything, something which the coaches decided on at the start of the year, officially we were meant to keep an eye out on everyone, but in reality everyone focused on themselves. If someone else didn't get their tracksuit on as soon as they got out of the pool, then they were an idiot, and were left to it. You didn't get to the standard we were at without realising what made champions and what separated them from the rest.

"Right guys," Felix turned to us all, bringing all attention to the task at hand. "We do this the normal way. You all know what we have to do. This time, I think Edward should take charge."

I was surprised for an instant, before nodding. It was no secret that the younger students looked up to me, because I was a specialist in one of the hardest strokes and because I was good looking. All of the freshmen and juniors were in awe of me, and I did nothing to disabuse them of the notion. It gave them something to aspire to. I turned around to look back towards the changing rooms.

The hopefuls had gathered together in a small huddle next to the changing room doors, and looked almost fearfully towards us. In total there were about twelve of them. I strode purposefully towards them and smiled.

"Right guys, so you wanna try out for swim club. I can say honestly, if you are going to make it you have to be good. And it is going to be a lot of hard work." I saw some of them swallow fearfully at the statement. "Okay, so I am going to partner you up each with one of the swimmers and they will assess you. We will then get back together, and have some races to look at your general race technique. If you could line up one by one and tell me your name, that would be great."

~*~*~*~

Bella POV

I sat on the table for quite a while in shock before Mr. Banner approached me and asked what was wrong. I explained mechanically, and tried to assure him that I was okay. He didn't seem convinced and asked one of the students in his rapidly filling classroom to take me to the nurses office. Luckily for me, or perhaps unluckily, it was Emmett.

"Bella, Bella, Bella!" he sighed dramatically as he walked up to my seat on the desk. "What are we going to do with you? First of all you whack your head on the table, and now this!"

He smiled good naturedly as he took hold of my bag and swung it over his shoulder. He then helped me to my feet, where I was careful not to put any weight on my injured leg. By that point it was throbbing with pain, and I was pretty sure that it had started swelling up.

"Emmett, I don't think that I can walk on my leg to be honest," I said frankly, as I stood there leaning against the desk.

"No problem!" he laughed loudly as he swung me up into his arms, as if I weighed no more than the bag he had just picked up. I laughed along with him, his joy with the world was infectious.

"Emmett, I just meant you might need to help me walk, not that you had to carry me!" he laughed again as he began walking out of the classroom.

"Please Bella, I weight lift more than you on a regular basis. No need for you to walk on that leg if I can carry you," he grinned down at me. For some reason I could not find it within myself to be repulsed by his touch, as I had been with the boy who had knocked me over. Maybe it was the prior knowledge of each other, or the fact that there was no similarities now with my earlier memories. Either way I was comfortable. That thought made me think of another boy who had made me feel safe in his arms. Edward Cullen was a total mystery to me. First of all he was a total dick to me when I was just trying to make some sort of small talk, then he ignores and glares at me, then he catches me after that guys pushes me over, and carries me into the classroom. My thoughts were twisted, because I did not want to be interested in him. My life in Forks would be so much simpler if I could just make it to graduation without attracting the attention of any of the guys. I really did not want to be in a relationship with anyone, and did not want the drama of having to explain why to anyone. Yet I still found myself intrigued by the complexity which was Edward Cullen.

Emmett carried me to the nurse's office through hallways of people who openly stared. I felt a blush colour my cheeks a bright red at their speculative and openly malicious stares. Clearly Emmett was a note of contention among the girls in Forks, regardless of the fact that he was so obviously smitten with Rosalie.

"Won't this bother Rosalie?" I asked him as he walked past the people, completely disregarding their looks and pointed stares. He laughed loud at that, his voice booming around the corridor.

"Believe me Bella, Rosalie is a lot more secure in our relationship than a lot of people think that she is. She knows that I am devoted to her, so this wouldn't bother her, as much as she might seem the jealous ice princess from lunch. There are reasons for why she is the way she is to new people." I was surprised by Emmett's words, but did not argue with him. After all, he was probably the one who knew Rosalie the best. "Okay, here we are!"

Emmett walked cheerfully into the nurse's office, flinging the door aside. The elderly nurse dithered in surprise as he sat me carefully on the bed, before saluting me and winking.

"Later Bella!" he grinned and skipped out of the door. That's right. The six foot four muscle bound football player skipped. And managed to look masculine while he did. The nurse watched after him in wonderment for a few moments before turning to me.

"So, what is wrong, dear?" she asked kindly, in that way that only older women can.

~*~*~*~

I managed to get out of the nurse's office by the end of study hall. She put ice on it, and gave me a support bandage when I was insistent that I had to get to calculus. She shook her head as I limped out of the door, the ice meaning that I could at least stand up and limp. She told me repeatedly that if I was still in pain in an hour to go back, and that I should really be going to the hospital to get it checked out. I nodded along to appease her, but had no intention of going anyway near the hospital. I hated hospitals; they held too many bad memories.

~*~*~*~

I made it through the whole of calculus ignoring the pain. I refused to give in to it, and to be weak. I was not going to go to the hospital. I could not let something as inane as falling on my knee make me give in and end up at the hospital.

However towards the end of the period it began to dawn on me that I had gym next. I would have to limp all the way over to the sports hall, and then give the teacher a reason for not taking part. There was no way in hell that I was going to be capable of doing badminton with my knee swollen the way that it was.

The bell rang, interrupting my musings. I gathered all of my things together and made a quick note of the homework which had been assigned. Then I stood tentatively and began to make my way slowly to the gym.

~*~*~*~

"Bella!" Alice cried as I made my way into the changing room. My limp had become more than a bit obvious by that point, and my knee had swollen to the point where it was unrecognisable when you compared it to my other leg. I collapsed onto the nearest bench and stretched my leg out. She rushed over to me and gasped when she saw my knee.

"Bella, you need to take your pants off." I was startled by her instruction and looked up at her in askance. "Bells, I need to look at the swelling on your knee. I have some shorts you can put on if you want."

I nodded and quickly slid out of the tight pants, wincing as I pulled the material over my swollen knee. Before even looking at the damage I pulled the black shorts Alice had offered to me. Only then did I look at my knee.

It was swollen to the point where you could barely see where the kneecap began and ended. The whole area was a brilliant red, and it throbbed as if it had its own pulse. In short, it hurt like hell.

"Bells, I'm going to go get Coach Clapp, and then I'm taking you to the hospital." Her voice was serious and allowed no arguments. I don't think I would have said anything, even if she hadn't been that undeniably fierce. There was something about Alice Brandon which made you want to do what she said, no matter how much you disliked it. Or feared it.

**Please read and review for me – I really appreciate it!**


	5. Chapter 5: New Shoes

**Hi to anyone who is still reading this! I know it has been a REALLY long time since I updated, but college has been seriously manic – gearing up for AS exams and getting all of my university applications sorted out – beefing out my personal statement unfortunately comes above fanfiction, although I wish it didn't. **

**Thanks to everyone who has added me to their favourites and story alerts!**

Chapter five: New Shoes

_Hey, I put some new shoes on_

_And suddenly everything is right_

_I said, hey, I put some new shoes on_

_And everybody's smiling, it's so inviting_

_**New Shoes by Paolo Nutini**_

Bella POV

I had one arm around Alice as she walked towards the admin building. She pushed the door open and led me to a bench by the wall, before approaching Mrs Cope.

"Hi Shelley," Alice smiled sweetly as she looked up at the older woman, who smiled back.

"Hello Alice, how's your mom doing?" she asked as she sorted through a pile of papers. I could see Alice forcing the smile to stay on her face.

"You know, same as always really. Anyway, we kind of need your help."

"Anything hon."

"Well Bella fell over, and her knee really isn't looking so good, so I thought I would drive her to the hospital. Coach Clapp already knows, but I need you to sign us out officially. Is that alright?" her puppy dog eyes were enough to guilt even the hardest hearted person into doing what she wanted.

"Sure, Alice. Just take Bella over there, and I will sort it all out."

"Thank you!" Alice smile widened and she came back over to where I was sat. She helped me stand up, and then supported most of my weight as we made our way over to the car.

"So, how do you know Mrs Cope?" I asked her as I sat in the passenger seat, trying to drag my attention away from the throbbing in my leg. Alice laughed darkly.

"Oh, back in the day Mrs Cope and my mom were in the same sorority. Apparently they are sisters for life and all that shit. After mom got pregnant with me straight out of college and freshly married, Mrs Cope apparently helped her out a lot. Even now mom is an alcoholic Shelley still tries to look out for her. Whenever I see her, she asks how mom is, and I answer evasively. Still helps when I need to get out of something. She feels bad that my mom doesn't pay any attention to anything other than her drink." Alice's voice was dark, something which I had come to realise characterised her when she talked about her dead beat mom. I tried to distract her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"Thanks for this Alice," I said, even though I wasn't the least bit thankful that she was forcing me to go to a hospital.

"No problem Bells," she smiled sadly.

~*~*~*~

I felt my hands go clammy as we turned into the parking lot. My breathing quickened and I soon found myself fighting panic. I was on the edge of hyperventilation, shallow quick breaths.

"Bella, calm down honey," Alice said as she turned to me in concern. I fought with myself to gain some semblance of calm.

"Alice, I'm scared of hospitals," I whispered to her as she stopped the car. She looked towards me in surprise and took hold of my hand.

"Why Bella?"

"Just..... bad memories," I refused to elaborate and she didn't push me, she just put an arm around me and smiled.

"I'm here for you hun." Then she took the key out of the ignition and opened her door. She whipped round the car, faster than I would have thought was possible, and opened my door. She looped her arm round my waist and literally hoisted me out of the car. For a little girl she sure had a lot of strength. I put my arm round her shoulders, as she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. We walked through the emergency room doors and approached the front desk. I looked around and was surprised to see that there was barely anyone sitting in the waiting room. One old man sat in the corner rocking slowly back and forth, and there was a girl about my age sat holding her purse close to her chest.

"Hi, my friend has really hurt her knee, and can't walk on it. We were wondering if a doctor could have a look at it," Alice said sweetly.

"Of course hon," the young woman on the desk said as she clicked on her computer. "It looks like one of the doctors is just coming off his break. I will page him and find out if her can head down and have a look."

Alice nodded and hauled me over to a chair as the nurse started talking on a phone.

"Hi Carlisle. Yeah, there are two young ladies down here, and one of them looks like she is in a lot of pain. Can you cut your break a little short?..... Of course, give me a sec," she pulled the phone away from her mouth and covered the mouthpiece. "What's your name hon?" she asked me.

"Isabella Swan." She nodded and put the phone back by her mouth.

"Yeah, It's Chief Swan's daughter, Isabella.... Okay.... no I don't think she can walk..... Yep I'll find her file now.... See you in a few." She put the phone down. "He will be here in a minute." Alice said thank you and patted my hand.

A few minutes later a really handsome young doctor came down the hallway, pushing a wheelchair in front of him. He said a quick hello to the nurse on the desk, who pointed him to me and Alice.

"Hello Miss Swan, I'm Doctor Cullen," the doctor smiled at me. Damn, he was Edward's father? But he only looked about thirty! It seemed like the apple hadn't fallen to far from the tree, at least as far as looks were concerned. Doctor Cullen was undoubtedly what most girls would term a DILF. Golden blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a smile which could make a girl tingle everywhere. Slyly, I looked him up and down, and was not surprised to see that he filled out his fitted blue shirt nicely underneath his white lab coat. I shook myself out of my daze and smiled back hesitantly.

"It's Bella," I said, only a little bit louder than a whisper.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"My knee. I fell and think I might have done something to it," I said quietly, focusing on keeping my breathing even.

"Okay, if you want to just sit down on the wheelchair, and we will take you into one of the examining rooms so I can look at it for you." His kind smile put me at ease, at least a little.

"Can Alice come with me," I said quickly. He nodded, and I let out the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. I quickly slid from the chair into the wheelchair, feeling really embarrassed. I didn't think that there could be much worse than being pushed down a hallway while other people you passed stared at you.

"So Alice, how is school?" the doctor asked conversationally. Clearly he already knew Alice from somewhere.

"You know, school. Swimming is just about to kick off so everyone is going into overdrive with 'team spirit'" she said with air quotes. The doctor laughed with her.

"And your mom?" he asked cautiously.

"Same as always. Drunk as a skunk most of the time." This was the most open I had heard Alice be about her mother around someone else.

"You know you can always call me or Esme if anything happens," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know Carlisle. Thank you," she murmured.

We got to the examining room really quickly and I got out of the chair and onto the bed as fast as I could.

"So tell me what happened, while I just have a look at your knee," the doctor said as I stretched my legs out. They were bare except for the shorts Alice had leant me. Boy was I cold! I explained what had happened as Dr Cullen poked and felt my knee. I tried to remain calm but occasionally hissing in discomfort. A few minutes later the nurse from reception came into the room holding a thick wad of paper which I could only assume was my file. It showed all of the visits I had had to the emergency room due to my accident prone nature. It was very thick. Dr Cullen thanked her as he looked over the file silently.

"From your records I can see that you are no stranger to knee problems due to your hypermobility, so I think that it has some bearing on this current injury," Dr. Cullen began. I nodded, listening intently. It was true, I had ripped the Patellar tendon (which is underneath your knee cap), in the same knee twice, because I was hypermobile. Hypermobility is where your joints have a greater range of movement than is normal, and your ligaments and muscles can deal with. This can lead to a range of medical problems. There were different places you can be hypermobile – knee, elbows, wrists, ankles and back. I was hypermobile in all of them.

"Miss Swan, I believe that you have a Medical Collateral Ligament Injury." He continued. "That is basically a complicated way of saying that you have sprained your knee, damaging some of the fibres which make up the ligament on the inner side of your knee. This normally happens in sports, but can happen if you have a history of knee injuries and force is exerted on the outside of your leg, just above the knee, which I believe is probably what happened when you fell. I don't think that it is too serious, from the severity of the swelling and stiffness which is being displayed I would say that you have a first degree strain," Doctor Cullen smiled down at me, warmth exuding from his smile.

"So, ice for twenty minutes every two hours?" yeah, I was an old hand with injuries.

"Yes Miss Swan that would be best. I am also going to find you a cohesive bandage which you should use to support and compress the knee. You should try and keep it elevated and out of harm's way, but there should be no reason why you can't walk on it tomorrow, although you may feel some pain. I would advise to rest it as much as you can. Also, no sports for at least three weeks."

I nodded, and Dr Cullen looked towards Alice.

"Alice, would you mind stepping out for a moment. I'm sure Charlie and Renee would like to know that Bella is alright," he smiled and Alice followed his instructions without a word. I took a deep breath, knowing that only something bad would come out of his mouth after he had sent Alice away. I was not wrong.

Dr. Cullen sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at me calmly.

"Miss Swan," he started.

"Call me Bella, please," I requested. He nodded and began speaking again.

"Bella, I noticed in your file that you haven't been back to a hospital since your... incident in April. I am assuming that you haven't had your injuries checked out since then?" his tone was kind, but I could hear the hint of reprimand underlying it.

"Well I didn't have stitches – they chose to glue the wounds and said that I didn't need to come back, because stitches didn't need to be taken out," I said carefully not looking him in the face.

"While that is certainly true Bella, it has been almost six months, and you really should have had a check-up to make sure that they are healing properly." I nodded, and took a deep breath.

"See the thing is Dr Cullen, since my... incident, I haven't really liked hospitals, and have been avoiding thinking about it, if I'm being completely honest. Not something I really want at the forefront of my mind." I examined my hands carefully as they knotted together, still refusing to look at him.

"I can check them over now if you would like and then you would not have to come back in separately. I would like to mention though, it isn't smart to avoid the hospital. If there were some real complications we would not know, and that could be detrimental on your health." He chided me softly, and I nodded. I knew I was being stupid and irrational, but that's exactly what irrational fears were. Irrational. He stood up, and waited for my decision.

"Okay then Dr Cullen." I took a deep breath and lay back properly on the bed, pulling my sweater and tank top up to expose my pale stomach. I couldn't help but look down at the two angry red puckered lines which were marring my skin. One stretched from below my belly button to my right hip, and the other stretched straight down from my left rib to my left hip.

"Tell me if you feel any pain, as I touch around the area, okay Bella," I voiced my understanding, and closed my eyes as he prodded my exposed stomach. Nothing felt odd, there was no sharp pain, which I guessed was a good thing.

"Nothing? Okay, you can sit up now." I did as he instructed and covered my stomach up again with my sweater.

"How are the lesser cuts healing up?" he asked.

"The scars have pretty much all faded now. You can only see a faint hint of a couple on my right leg and hip." I said, trying to stay as clinical as possible and not think about what had happened to cause the wounds.

"Well, it seems that your body is healing fairly well. If you get any pain in your stomach which is unexpected, or particularly intense you should come to the hospital to get it checked out."

"Dr Cullen now that the wounds are healed, will I be able to swim again?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, Bella, but not until your knee is better." He said with a laugh. "Now let me get that bandage for you. I will be right back."

Dr Cullen walked out of the room as Alice walked back in, a grin on her face. I groaned.

"What did my mom say?" I asked hesitantly as her grin grew wider.

"Well, first she got really worried when I said that you had hurt yourself in a fall, but then when I reassured her that you weren't bleeding and that you were in no life threatening danger she calmed down. She tried to tell me that she would come pick you up, but I told her that it would be just as easy for me to drive you home." I breathed a sigh of relief. I could just see Renee storming into the hospital, demanding to see that I was alright, and not letting the doctor go until I had an x-ray, CAT and MRI scan just to be sure. She was such a hypochondriac, or at least she was where I was concerned. She would think that a mild headache meant that I had some life threatening disease and would try to rush me to the doctors.

"Thank you Alice. I seem to be thanking you for a lot at the moment," I laughed as she accepted my gratitude.

"Honey, don't worry, it's what I'm here for!"

"So I guess everyone in Forks really does know everyone else," I muttered, mostly to myself. Alice laughed freely.

"Yep, that's about the size of it. I saw Dr C last year after I had a fight with Lauren Mallory and ended up with scratch marks all down my face. I ended up breaking down and telling him about everything that started the fight, and about my mom, and since then he has been really nice to me. His wife Esme, is lovely, and I kind of already knew them through Edward and Jazz. But they invite me round for lunch every so often on the weekends so I can get away from mom, or I babysit Edward's little sister Fenella." Alice explained cheerfully as Dr Cullen walked back in.

"Ah Alice, that reminds me. Esme and I were wondering if you could babysit Fenny on Saturday. We have a lunch with Esme's parents in Seattle, and we don't really want to drag her all that way."

"That's fine, Carlisle. I might end up dragging Jasper along though, because he is supposed to be tutoring me in biology this weekend." She grinned. "I'm hopeless!"

"That's fine Alice. Just don't gang up on the poor boy again. I haven't quite gotten over the last time." I looked in askance at the strange comment, and the doctor laughed. "Esme and I came home to find him covered in makeup, his hair up in bunches, and forced into a dress made out of Fenny's bed sheets while they both painted his nails."

I openly laughed at this mental image, and continued to giggle all the way through Dr Cullen showing me how to apply the bandage in the best way to support my knee.

"Try not to walk around on it too much, but try to get a balance between resting and moving around, because we don't want the knee to lock in place." He gave me this last minute advice, before handing me the rest of the wrapped up bandage. I thanked him as I got off the bed, and began to leave, before remembering that I had forgotten to say something.

"Um, Dr Cullen?" I asked hesitantly as I limped out of the door. He looked up from the file he was looking at and smiled. "Can you tell Edward that I said thank you? For helping me today?"

He nodded, looking surprised for a second. I muttered another thank you and left the room as quickly as I could.

~*~*~*~

Edward POV

I pushed off from the wall, streamlined, and began kicking my two legs together in a powerful butterfly kick. I felt myself glide through the water at a pace that most swimmers would be jealous of, and as soon as I hit the surface of the water I began swimming an easy frontcrawl, stretching out as I reached forward to get the best pull from the water, to propel myself as far forward with as little effort as possible. This was what I loved most about swimming. The water flowing over my body as I moved through it, barely splashing the water. The feel of the water in my cupped hands as I pushed back and sent myself flying forwards. And the time it gave me to think. The motions were habit by now, and it allowed me time to relax, and concentrate on my movement through the water, or to think of other, more unrelated things, or just not think at all. Then, I was doing the latter. Not thinking. It was bliss.

The session ended too quickly, and I had a quick shower before changing into my jeans, tshirt and leather jacket. I bundled everything into my bag and began to head for the door.

"Edward!" Peter yelled as I started leaving the locker room. I turned around to see what he wanted. "Man, my parents are away this week, and I'm having a party tonight. You up for it?"

"I dunno, I'm in enough shit with my parents as it is," I said remembering the debacle from the morning. Esme and Carlisle were bound to be in shit moods when I got home. Was I really going to make shit any worse this early in the season for cheap alcohol and easy girls?

"Well, whatever you decide to do. You know where my place is. And its free all week, so its not as if it's going to be the last party." He saluted me as I nodded and left the room heading to Graeme's office.

He was sitting at his desk when I got there. He looked up and smiled slightly when he saw it was me.

"Edward, nice session today. That champions spot is definitely within reach at nationals this year." I nodded my thanks, and started telling him my thoughts on those who had tried out.

"Graeme, there are two freshmen who show real potential and should be put into the Junior Performance squad – Kaylia Jones, and Scott Rictor. The rest were disappointing. If they want to continue then they should be in the lessons program." My report to Graeme was succinct and to the point. There was no point beating around the bush if it wasn't important. His face turned grim.

"So, no older people turn up who were any good?" I shook my head no. He growled slightly in anger.

"Damn it! We need at least one more girl for the team if we are going to get the 200m relay this year. Jane just doesn't have the power to be able to push the last leg at the moment!" I nodded in agreement, although I would never say anything along those lines out loud. Jane was one scary bitch. You did not cross her, or insult her swimming ability.

I chatted to Graeme for a few more minutes, trying to delay the inevitable, but knew that I would have to get home at some point.

~*~*~*~

When I got home I knew that there was something wrong when I saw my whole family around the dinner table, waiting for me. They all had food in front of them, and an empty place was made up, including food with a cover over it. As I shoved my swimming bag on the hall floor, Carlisle motioned for me to sit down, and I did so apprehensively, unsure of what was happening. It certainly wasn't the blow up I had expected.

"Edward, how was training?" Esme asked politely as everyone began to dig into the food. I made a noncommittal noise, and shrugged.

"Alright I guess," I muttered as I began to eat. I could see her eyes fill with sadness at my answer. My mom was so desperate for us to play happy families, complete with white picket fence and 1.83 children. She wanted us to talk about our days and pretend like we were all full of happiness and sunshine. All that bullshit.

"Mommy today school was so fun!" Nella squealed as she launched into a complex description of the story she had read in reading corner and the game that she and her bunch of little princess friends played at recess. I tuned it out. Well at least mom got her wish with one child.

"Chief Swan's daughter was in the emergency room today," my dad remarked to mom after Fenella had finally stopped talking. I internally groaned. Why the fuck was everyone so obsessed with this Bella Swan? Seriously, she wasn't anything fucking special.

"Is she alright?" Mom asked, concerned. I snorted as I continued to eat. She just wanted to go to her Pilates class, or yoga, or whatever shit she did with more gossip than all of the other women. She just loved the fact that her husband was a doctor, and that she got to know all of the people who were in hospital, and for what, or at least as much as the good doctor could reveal without breaking his Hippocratic oath.

"Yes, Esme, she is fine. Just a fall. She is a lovely young woman, already friends with Alice Brandon." He commented. He turned to me, and looked at me curiously from across the table. "Edward, Bella asked me to thank you for helping her today. What did you do?"

I could hear the curiosity undisguised in his voice as he wondered what his asshole son could have done to make this girl thank him. Clearly he already thought that the sun shone out of her ass.

"I just helped her up after Mike fucking Newton knocked her over," I said, talking intently to my potatoes. I could see that Carlisle had lifted one eyebrow.

"Edward!" Esme scolded me. "Language!"

Fenella burst out giggling.

"Edward, you're in trouble now!" she squealed. Fucking shit! I growled and glared at her.

"Edward, don't look at your sister that way!" Dad snarled, and leaped up, all indignant and on his high horse. "I'm sick of your fucking attitude!"

_Damn hypocrite _I thought to myself as Esme bustled a complaining Fenella into the kitchen.

"Oh, so you can swear in front of Nella, but I can't?" I asked as I stood up to look him in the eye.

"That is not what this is about. Fuck's sake Edward, we make an effort, forget about the crap you pulled this morning, even though it upset your mother, and all you do is sulk and act like a three year old. Don't think we don't know about the girls and all of the alcohol! Grow up Edward! You need to get over this crap! It was fucking six months ago!"

He did not just bring up that shit yet again. I snarled and shoved my chair at the table roughly.

"Yeah, because normal people just get over a betrayal like that at the drop of a hat. For fucks sake! It cost me my national place!" I yelled as I slammed the door to the dining room behind me.

Cheap alcohol and easy girls it was.

**I'd really really like to know what you think about this chapter, even if it is only a line. Please!**


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